The PSC considers that it would make sense to modify some aspects of the operation of the participatory budgets, the municipal initiative through which the people of Barcelona were able to propose and vote for investments in the neighbourhoods, which is currently underway. Rosa Alarconspokesperson for the PSC municipal group and also a Horta-Guinardó councilor, affirms that she speaks more in terms of the second responsibility when she affirms that the application of participatory budgets has some gaps, dysfunctions What do you think should be corrected? He is still not clear about what those solutions should be, for now he points out what are the problems he appreciates.
Mobilization in percentage
Essentially, he believes that given that what prevails is the vote, neighborhoods with fewer inhabitants run the risk of remaining in the queue or out of the program, and this includes, he says, the case of areas where mobilization is very high in percentage but insignificant in absolute numbers.
He gives neighborhoods in his district as examples, such as the Clotawith 600 neighbors, and Sant Genís dels Agudells (To be more specific, the councilwoman’s neighborhood), with 6,000 residents, who will easily see their proposals surpassed by those of neighborhoods with tens of thousands of inhabitants: “Discrimination occurs & rdquor ;. It is not his only complaint, but it is the most significant.
The model
When Ada Colau was mayor for the first time, in 2015, Barcelona en Comú included in its electoral program the possibility that citizens decide what should be the destination of a part of the investment of the consistory. 5% of the game. The initiative, provided for once per mandate, did not catch on in the mayor’s first four years in office, and everything was planned for him to do it in the second. In February 2020, the councilor of Barcelona en Comú Marc Serra, who is responsible for the issue, explained what the axes of its application would be.
The part of the budget that the people of Barcelona had to decide amounted to 75 million euros. But a month later the pandemic stopped the world, and also participatory budgeting, as this proposal is known. Finally, the measure went live a year later, but the coronavirus had its economic effectand the planned departure dropped from 75 to 30 million euros. That, inevitably, slowed down the distribution originally planned: with 75 million it would have been more possible to consider a benefit that would somehow reach the 73 neighborhoods, Serra emphasizes.
76 projects
The Councilor for Citizenship and Participation Rights states, in response to Alarcón’s arguments, that this factor could be decisive in the future application of participatory budgets. The next edition, except for a change of direction in case the government leaves the elections. However, Serra defends the current model: “It is the first criticism that comes to me. The project works very well. The opposition has not presented any initiative against him. But we reach out to improve it. I’m sure we can do it with a bigger budget.”
The mayor recalls that as a criterion of equity, efforts were made to include neighborhood proposals from the 10 districts in the initial prioritization phase. It was not from the 73, but from many. He cites some neighborhoods with few residents that have managed to make a project prosper: La Font d’en Fargues, in Horta, with 9,400 residents; the d’El Coll neighbourhood, in Gràcia, with 7,500 residents, and the Trinitat Nova neighbourhood, in Nou Barris. In April 2021, the prioritization phase began, based on 2,000 proposed projects. It was verified that they met the bases and they remained at 900.
The amount was limited so that the residents asked to vote between 20 for each of the ten districts. And so 200 became finalists. And finally, the most voted were 76: there is no limitation by project, but by economic cost. In the case of 2021, and unique for now, the 30 million mentioned set that limit.
The two projects that received the greatest number of supports are the improvement of the Espanya Industrial Park (3,351 for an investment of 850,000 euros) and the reform of the Julià de Capmany sports ground for cricket and other minority sports (2,890 votes). and 1.6 million). In total, almost 40,000 Barcelonans participated in the voting, through the web decidedim.barcelona.
Economic valuation
That is another of the points that Alarcón points out as a problem: the economic valuation that is made of the projects. It is clear that it is necessary to know the cost of the proposals so that the population decides on one or the other. It is a key fact.
The councilor believes that the assessments that were made were not always the most accurate, although she apologizes to the technicians. She says that in many cases it is difficult to pin them down. She cites a case that she has experienced in Horta-Guinardó: the project for a children’s water play area in the Jardines de Baix Guinardó. It was the fourth most voted proposition in the district, with 1,374 votes. The planned budget was 300,000.
For now, the initiative does not follow its turn, since the councilor has paralyzed it due to some neighborhood opposition and the fact that the person who promoted the reform no longer defends it, dissatisfied with the project. But the allusion comes to the case that the final budget of the first part of the measure finally amounted to 400,000 euros. Therefore, the district had to find 100,000 euros from another item. With the reform paralyzed, for now there is no problem, but Alarcón believes that the calculation must be further refined.
A buoy in the sea
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The last ‘but’ of the Socialists concerns the nature of some of the approved proposals, considering that they are more city measures than neighborhood measures. As an example, Alarcón cites the ninth most voted proposal in Ciutat Vella, included among the 76 that prospered: the installation of a buoy in the sea “to measure the acidification of the Mediterranean & rdquor ;. It achieved 1,154 votes and has an expected cost of 200,000 euros. The socialist considers that it does not respond to the spirit of the measure. Serra believes that it is an isolated case.
The differences between government partners on this issue are cordial and more or less limited. And they are written down, although it is intuited that they will not be at the top of an agenda that looks straight at the municipal elections on May 28 right now. Everything indicates that the debate remains for when the next mandate is started.